Bulls On Parade

Dear DreamWorks Animation…

Just one week ago, I compared your competitors at Pixar to Michael Jordan. When I look at your creations however, I am reminded more of Scottie Pippen. He was one of the greats, one of the greatest of all time actually. But no matter how amazing he was, he was never as good as Jordan – and never as good when he played without Jordan either. That ‘standing in the shadow’ lot in life often sums up your relationship with Pixar. You’re better than Pippen in the fact that you’ve proven yourselves once, but that once was a long time ago…and you don’t have much to show for it since.

Fear not though you workers of dreams, The Hatter has some ideas after the jump that can get you a ring or two without Air Jordan as your teammate…

Just a refresher: you started out well, born from those who were disgruntled with what the Disney Monster had become. With just your second CG Animated feature, you managed to create a character that will go down as one of the greats in cartoon history. You were clever where they were cute, and to posterize the achievement, you won the first ever Oscar for Best Animated Feature right out from under the mouse’s nose.

But then you seemed to have grown lazy, making your cartoons less original and playing to the lowest animated denominator for thin plots and cheap laughs. While you gave birth to lame sequels and trilogies, your competition at Pixar sailed past you, and in recent years even the animation divisions at Warners and Sony have caught up with products like HAPPY FEET and SURF’S UP.

So what to do? Here’s my three point plan…

Step One: Less Celebrity Voices
Novel concept huh? I don’t think you need to cut them out completely, in fact I think the Screen Actors Guild might revolt if you did. More to the point, the trend is hardly your fault – I think Disney and Robin Williams can take credit for this problem. However, I do think you could do with paring it back. Look back at MADAGASCAR, some of the funniest characters were the chimps and the penguins – all of which were voiced by character actors. KUNG FU PANDA was quite the cool movie, but I felt so distracted for scene after scene trying to figure out who the voice of Tai Lung was.

I say, put together a dream team – no more than four stars, and build out from there. They’ll work better as a unit, there will be more screen time to go around, and the whole effect will be less distracting. Oh and Pixar loves them the celebs too – you might even be able to one up them!

Step Two: Tell Me a Story
In ten years, you’ve released nine CG movies. All of them have been about animals, fish, or bugs. What do you think about branching out? Not only were they all lovable creatures, but in almost every instance we watch a story about a misfit having to be brave to help his friends. Why not dig deeper in the drawer and try to tell a different story? Yes, animation is still by and large aimed at children, but there are so many more lessons we can teach our kids than just “be brave and be yourself”. Ease off on the pop culture references, ice the potty humour for a film or three, and literally go back to the drawing board.

If you want some help, why not go across the hall and visit the people at Aardman Animations – the people who created CHICKEN RUN and WALLACE & GROMMIT. They seem capable of writing good stories, and heck – on your dime even! Buy ’em a few drinks and see if they’ll share the secret of a good flick with ya.

Step Three: Push the Limits
What made SHREK work so well was the fact that half of it seemed to be playing at the adults in the theatre. For a moment you felt like a breath of fresh air…then you started doing it again and again, as did every other major studio’s animation division. So now it’s time to try and be different again. It doesn’t all have to be mapped out with tee shirts and plush toys in mind. Your features can be wrapped around novel film making ideas. Add the tee shirt and plush toy fodder in there, but try to bundle in with something that expands computer animation as an art form.

Here’s a little experiment for you. Go to your closest Blockbuster and rent the following DVDs: SPIRITED AWAY, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, PERSEPOLIS, and SURF’S UP. Go home, turn off your cell phone and watch ’em all. Even if you take what you’ve learned and turn it into a short or two – use your immense talent to do something new for the genre.

…I know, I know, it sounds like hard work. But if anyone’s capable of it – you are. Think back to that competitive streak in you that felt the urge to create SHREK as the ultimate “nyah-nyah” to Disney. Tap into that part of you that hates to lose.

Embrace your inner Jordan – don’t be content to rest back on your Pippen.

Sincerely,
Hatter.